ISORG Mini project

Thursday

-CompUSA.com is a subsidiary of Systemax Inc. CompUSA.com was established to serve the needs of computer users, and today we are one of the industry's top computer and computer-product retailers.
-Their web site has been ranked among the New York Times' "Top 25 Online Retailers" and their catalog has become a textbook for computer users.

-Their success has been built on a simple principle: take care of every customer like they were a member of our family.
-The top priority was to provide unmatched customer care and to help their customers understand how technology could help them.
-Their staff would always answer your questions, make recommendations and deliver solutions. they stock their web site with the latest products, the best deals---and plenty of information to help you decide for yourself.

Features

Business model can be classified under 3 different categories:- Business to Business (B2B)- Business to Consumers (B2C)- Consumers to Consumers (C2C)

C2C:
Consumer-to-consumer (or C2C) electronic commerce involves the electronically-facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a flat fee or commission. The sites are only intermediaries, just there to match consumers. They do not have to check quality of the products being offered.

B2C:
B2C (Business-to-Consumer) is basically a concept of online marketing and distributing of products and services over the Internet. It is a natural progression for many retailers or marketer who sells directly to the consumer. The general idea is, if you could reach more customers, service them better, make more sales while spending less to do it, that would the formula of success for implementing a B2C e-commerce infrastructure.

B2B:
Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce, also known as E-Business, is experiencing an explosive growth rate on the Internet. Companies of all sizes and types are now mutually buying and selling products and services on the Internet.

B2B also offers unique benefits such as less human intervention, less overhead expenses, fewer inadvertent errors, more efficiency, more advertising exposure, new markets and new physical territories equate to an intelligent method of mutual business. It is a win-win situation for both buyer and seller.

CompUSA (Business-To-Business)

By setting up an online e-business, compUSA is able to reduce their operating and overhead expenses. Hence they are able to divert more of their spare capital on advertising and research and development. This is a win win situation for bothe buyer and seller as the buyer can purchase their products at a much lower cost and the seller is able to gain a higher customer base due to the low and attractive cost.

Advantages of B2B

a)Catalog flexibility and Online fast updating

-Direct "link" capabilities to content information and visual displays already existing on other client web site. CompUSA can update their E-Catalog anytime, whether it's adding new products, or adjusting prices, without the expense and time of a traditional print catalog.

b)Shrinks the Competition Gap

-Reduced marketing/advertising expenses, compete on equal footing with much bigger companies; easily compete on quality, price, and availability.

c)Unlimited Market Place and Business Access Which Extend Customer Base

-CompUSA gives customers the opportunity to browse and shop at their convenience and at their place, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

d)Lower Cost of Doing Business

-Reduce inventory, employees, purchasing costs, order processing costs associated with faxing, phone calls, and data entry, and even eliminate physical stores. Reduce transaction costs.
-Eliminate Middlemen, Sell directly to your customers.

Disadvantages

a) Not all people are able to surf the net freely
b) some people might not be comfortable in providing their personal particulars (credit card number, address etc )

c) customer do not have hands on the products that they wish to purchase. Therefore they might not be convince to purchase the products online

d) Enquries on products may take a while to reach the customers since face to face consultation is not possible.

Payment modes

Compusa uses paypal as the payment mode. Upon checking out, consumers must sign up a Paypal account before proceeding for payment. PayPal is the safer, easier way to pay online. Pay with your credit card (Visa/masters/amex) without exposing your credit card number to the merchant. Plus, speed through checkout whenever you shop online.

Advantages of using paypal
Secure:
Never expose your credit card number to the merchant.
100% protection against any unauthorized payments sent from your account.
Every purchase confirmed with an email receipt.

Convenient:
Speed through checkout whenever you shop online.
Pay with your credit card, debit card, or bank account. Your choice.
No need to retype your financial information.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

1) Convenient Online Shopping

Their Web Site Makes Shopping Convenient having a web team that sees to it that CompUSA.com's inventory of 50,000 in-stock products are on-line and available with just a couple of clicks.

They provide the "Build-It-Yourself" features to enable customers to customize their own computer according to their needs.

2) Ultra-Quality Computer

ISO 9001 Certified Facility are built in their state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. All products undergo a multilevel testing process so it's ready to plug in and run any moment

3) Knowledgeable Sales Professionals

At CompUSA.com they select the best and the brightest to answer your calls. All staff are put through rigorous training sessions.

4) Customer Service Orientated

"We treat every customer with respect. We consider every transaction of critical importance. We offer the industry's highest-quality products at the lowest-possible prices. · We back every product with a rock-solid satisfaction guarantee. · We offer the most complete product information and photo galleries available. · We ship most orders placed before 7pm ET anywhere the same day."

5)Security features

a)Website Security Guarantee

All orders andtransactions involving release of personal information is encrypted using the latest 128-bit SSL encryption technology. Encryption is a process by which they use software to scramble your credit card number and personal information so that they're unreadable by anyone but CompUSA.com, Inc.

b) Verisign Secure Seal

The Web site can secure your private information using a VeriSign SSL Certificate. Information exchanged with any address beginning with https is encrypted using SSL before transmission.

6) Key features

Compusa has the Add to cart feature which is a key feature in any e-commerce website and the more info button which is place beside every products for easy references. The track my order service enable customers to track their purchases fast and quick!

There is also a search engine toolbar for quick search of the products.Extensive search capabilities by item, corporate name, division name, location, manufacturer, partner, price or any other specified need.

Weakness

-website is too untidy. It is confusing to first time visitors using the website.
-There are large volumns of advertisements, which can be distracting and a turn off.
-Customer have to sign up for an account with CompUSA before they are able to purchase their items.
-Call-me feature are for areas within USA, Florida Locations . International customers have to use email feature for contacting customer service.

In Conclusion:

Electronic commerce , commonly known as e-commerce or eCommerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. (quoted from wikipedia)
As the world turns into a wireless world, and with the next generation become more IT savy, we will be able to see more companies diverting to using e-commerce as a way of setting up business.
As mentioned above, though e-commerce has its advantages, we must bear in mind the disadvantages too.